transatlantic slave trade
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Rio Wharf, Where More Than 900,000 Enslaved Africans Came to New World, Becomes UNESCO Heritage Site
We know that the largest number of black people in the Western Hemisphere— and the most outside of Africa—live in the country of Brazil, because of slavery. But did you know that nearly 1 million Africans came through a recently discovered site in Rio de Janeiro—Valongo Wharf—also known as “Slave Wharf”? The area was recently…
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Using Genetic Testing to Better Understand the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The recent opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is part of a long and slow national reckoning on race, but some chapters on race are still missing from our nation’s history. Documenting that history may be aided by a project recently launched by the direct-to-consumer genetics-testing company 23andMe. Our…
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212 Slaves Died on the São José Ship; This New Exhibit Will Share Their Story
Paul Gardullo lifted an iron ballast from a Portuguese slave ship that sank in 1794 out of a crate Wednesday morning and hefted its weight in his hands. “Anytime I come into contact with the objects from the São José, it’s an incredibly moving experience,” said the curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American…